


Treasure

by Darkestwolfx



Series: March Prompt a Day 2020 [12]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Best Friends, Gen, relic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23234575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkestwolfx/pseuds/Darkestwolfx
Summary: Treasure came in many shapes and sizes, and sometimes it was so treasured, it ended up appearing like trash.
Series: March Prompt a Day 2020 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1660813
Kudos: 7





	Treasure

**Author's Note:**

> This is another character I don't usually write for and haven't written in ages, so let's see how this goes! By the way, a belated thanks for all the reviews/favourites/follows/comments/kudos on this series of work so far!

**12: Treasure**

Summary: Treasure came in many shapes and sizes, and sometimes it was so treasured, it ended up appearing like trash.

Words: 868

Spoilers: _'Relic'_ [S1E15].

* * *

* * *

One man's trash is another man's…

Another man's…

Oh, blast that.

It would come to him.

* * *

If someone had asked him in… oh, back in 2025 it must have been, whether he would be sticking it out until thick and thin on the moon – well he couldn't quite tell what he would have said exactly, but it likely would have been some variant of _'no'_ or _'what are you on about?'_.

But, here he was in 2060, sticking it out through thick and thin and making use of what he had left. Yes, things were falling apart… a little, and cutting out… a little, and just generally getting a bit- well, a bit old. But that didn't make it any less the same Alfie who had stuck beside them for the past thirty-three (or come to think of it, was it thirty-four?) years.

You couldn't just let go of a thing like that easily.

They said it was being decommissioned.

They said he should come home.

They didn't understand.

They never would.

To them, Alfie- Shadow Alpha Base, had served his purpose and was now only trash, falling apart with lose bolts and buckles, which there was no point in giving any time, money or even hope to.

He didn't agree.

They expected him to agree.

They expected him to go quietly.

So Lee did _exactly_ that.

He might be an eccentric… okay, somewhat over eccentric man, but he was wise all the same and he knew when he needed to play the fool. They wanted him to leave, wanted him to retire, _fine._

He was choosing to retire with Alfie.

He could keep him going – it wouldn't be hard after all, he'd been doing it all this time.

They wanted him to go though, and go _quietly_.

So he let them think that.

Radio silence, communication black outs, everything. Alfie's systems were dying anyway – they were weakening long before the decommission order came in. It was standard procedure to shut all those main operating systems down too. No one on Earth would be any the wiser.

He'd never been one for _'on time'_ or _'strict orders'_ either – he survived on both those accounts because of Jeff… If Jeff was still on Earth, still running around with International Rescue, well then maybe he could have thought about some kind of 'other' retirement. But this, _this_ was all he had and he wasn't planning on giving any of it up without a fight.

Alfie was a little dragged through the mud, dusty and rusty and past his best, but Alfie was Alfie.

This base was his home.

* * *

He didn't expect others to see the world as he did. Few ever had. It was why he and Jeff had gotten on so swimmingly.

Speaking of swimming, didn't one of Jeff's boys do that..? Which one though, was the question… Sam, Jim, Vinny… No, none of those were even the right names.

Another transistor fell out of the unit he was repairing.

He sighed.

It was a good thing he still had plenty of spares. He and Jeff had always tried to repair first as opposed to straight out replace unless it was absolutely called for.

To the world Alfie was decommissioned. Alfie was nothing, non-existent and the moon had returned to its status of _'uninhabited'_. But he knew better. He had the tools to keep Alfie going for a long time still.

And if he was losing it… a little, as well, if maybe he too needed a bit of repairing… well, there was no big hurry there was there! One of these days he'd be _'decomissioned'_ ; that was just the way of things. But that didn't mean you couldn't try to go out without a fight.

Now, where did he put that note he wrote himself about fixing the A1 board's mechanics…

* * *

There was a lot more to be fixing now. Well, just about everything actually, but he kept it ticking over. He kept going; he kept it all going.

But… it wasn't really going, not- not in the sense that he would like anyhow.

It was going, Alfie was going.

Downhill.

* * *

" _I just can't give up on it."_

" _Look around you, Captain. Don't you think Alfie's given up on you? Why are you trying to keep it running."_

" _Because it's my home, Scott. This base is a part of me and I'm not ready to say goodbye just yet."_

Maybe the rest of the world could. But he was different, Alfie was different and he couldn't just say goodbye like that. Maybe all good things did come to an end, yet he was reluctant to believe that here and now was his, and Alfie's. They had more in them, they had more to give and more to do. Longer to withstand and another round of Leonids to try and wait for.

This had been his home for so long; old and decrepit as it may be, to him it was still home, it was still- _Treasured,_ to _him._

 _And_ to _Jeff._

* * *

One man's trash is another man's…

Oh, what was it?

Another man's…

 _Treasure_!

And Shadow Alpha One was exactly that to him.


End file.
